Pumpkin can be enjoyed all winter

This turned out to be a good pumpkin year for us, and we still have a few stashed away that we better get serious about eating soon. Generally speaking they don’t improve much with age. We grow a standard pie pumpkin, small and sweet, one pie per pumpkin, and another, an heirloom sort called Long Pie. That one looks like an overgrown, green zucchini when it comes out of the garden, but it turns orange gradually in storage. It works nicely for several sorts of dishes including soup, casseroles, puddings and pie.

If I think that I might not get to a part of my stored pumpkins before they begin their inevitable decline, I cook them up and stash them in convenient 1- or 2-cup amounts in plastic zip-closed bags, which I flatten for freezing. It’s a little like a floor tile when you take it out to thaw it, but pumpkin stores more efficiently this way.

This recipe for pumpkin bread is a good one. I waited years to find a pumpkin bread I was enthusiastic about. My neighbor Ruth Hartley gave me this recipe and for a change I didn’t fiddle with it. The great error in most pumpkin breads is too much sugar, though some of you won’t think so. Feel free to dump in more if you like supersweet quick breads. If you like raisins, add some of those. Since this makes two loaves, eat one and freeze one or halve the recipe; it’s easily done.

Looking for – queries. There must be something you’d like to try if only you had a recipe. Send it along, and we’ll ask for it here.

Send queries or answers to Sandy Oliver, 1061 Main Road, Islesboro 04848. E-mail: tastebuds@prexar.com.

Pumpkin Bread

3 3/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups cooked, well-drained pumpkin

4 eggs

3 cups sugar

1 cup cooking oil

2/3 cup cold water

Grease and flour two bread pans. Preheat the oven to 350. Sift together the dry ingredients. Put the pumpkin, eggs, sugar, oil and water into a large mixing bowl and beat. Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Divide into the two pans. Bake for an hour, or until the top rises and cracks, and an inserted tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack before turning out.

Looking for – queries. There must be something you’d like to try if only you had a recipe. Send it along, and we’ll ask for it here.

Send queries or answers to Sandy Oliver, 1061 Main Road, Islesboro 04848. E-mail: tastebuds@prexar.com. For recipes, tell us where they came from. List ingredients, specify number of servings and do not abbreviate measurements. Include name, address and daytime phone number.